British NPA is launching an attack on one of the UK retailers
The National Pig Association (NPA) has put Asda under fire for not offering the same space on the shelves of its stores to domestic fresh pork products as other UK retailers do.
A May survey showed that 8 of 10 top retailers in Great Britain have managed to stock 100% British fresh pork on their shelves, while Tesco, has increased the rate of exposure from 62% to 69% in the first 5 months of the year, informs Pig World magazine.
Overall, the AHDB survey showed 79% of fresh pork facings were British, along with 51% of bacon, 69% of ham and 85% of sausage. While the fresh pork was fractionally down on last year, all other categories were up.
Not the case of Asda, though, who posted the lowest figure when it came to bacon, 31%, even if it stands better than Lidl on ham and Budgens on sausage. Marks & Spencer and Waitrose led the way, scoring 100% on fresh pork, bacon and sausage and 95% and 91% respectively on ham. The Co-op also posted impressive figures, including 100% British fresh pork and bacon, 98% ham and 85% sausage.
"Overall the latest Porkwatch figures paint a positive picture, with eight retailers stocking 100% fresh British pork and making this selling point to customers. We thank them for their support and are also very pleased to see the efforts made by Tesco to stock more British pigmeat. But Asda’s performance is, frankly, shocking. It has consistently been shown to be the worst supporter of the British pig industry among all the big retailers and these figures confirm it is simply going from bad to worse", said Zoe Davies, NPA chief executive.
Asda is in the middle of negotiations for merging with Sainsbury’s and the deal is concerning for the representatives of UK pork industry.
" If Asda’s philosophy of shunning British pork in favour of imported pork is carried over to the new organisation, this will be of great concern to the pork sector.", added Zoe Davies.
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